In principle there are two general types of hand knitting devices. The first, and most commonly employed, is knitting needles; the other utilizes pegs placed either in a row on a linear frame or in a circle on a circular frame.
The needle-knitting is by far the more popular because the knitting needles are less expensive, easy to carry, can knit both flat and tubular forms, can perform increasing and decreasing widths. However, needle-knitting has always been a tedious process requiring a high degree of skill for production of satisfactory results. By knitting on pegs, one can always get a very uniform fabric. However, there are many difficulties associated with the frame-knitting devices characterized by the prior art. For example, each peg on such knitting frames is a loop-forming element and the pegs are arranged in a single row. Therefore, the loops on pegs are tightly attached to the pegs, so it is always difficult to manipulate the loops on the pegs. Circular frames are used to knit tubular fabrics. However, in order to knit material of different sizes, many frames of different sizes are required. Another disadvantage of the circular frame is that in its use increasing and decreasing fabric widths cannot be generated, These being basic functions for shaping. Another disadvantage of the linear frame is that the length required is at least twice the width of the fabric. Thus, one needs at least a frame two feet in length to knit fabric of a one foot width. Other hand knitting devices are known, but they are either not practical or too complicated.